General Counsel

A bit about us:

Privately held, Midwest-based manufacturer and distributor is seeking a Corporate Counsel to support its growing legal function. The company manufactures durable consumer and commercial products sold through major retail, wholesale, and e-commerce channels across North America. It offers a collaborative, hands-on environment with meaningful exposure to commercial transactions, employment matters, compliance, intellectual property, litigation management, and enterprise risk.

Why join us?

• Competitive compensation
• Growth opportunities
• Full benefits

Job Details

The Corporate Counsel will serve as a key legal advisor to the business, providing practical, business-oriented counsel across a broad range of corporate legal matters. This role will support the company's commercial operations, employment matters, compliance initiatives, intellectual property strategy, risk-management efforts, and engagement with outside counsel.

The ideal candidate is a hands-on, solutions-focused attorney who can independently manage competing priorities, negotiate sophisticated agreements, translate legal risk into clear operational guidance, and partner effectively with leaders throughout the organization.

Key Responsibilities
Advise business leaders and internal stakeholders on a broad range of corporate legal matters, including commercial contracting, employment, compliance, intellectual property, litigation, and enterprise risk management.

Draft, review, revise, redline, negotiate, and provide legal and compliance guidance regarding customer, vendor, supplier, and other commercial agreements, including agreements with annual values exceeding $10 million.

Develop and maintain practical contract-review processes, playbooks, templates, and policies that balance commercial objectives with appropriate legal and business protections.

Provide day-to-day employment-law counseling to management and Human Resources on matters such as hiring, onboarding, employee performance, discipline, leaves, workplace policies, investigations, separations, and risk mitigation.

Draft and revise employment-related documentation, including offer letters, employee handbooks and policies, confidentiality agreements, restrictive-covenant agreements, separation and release agreements, and other workforce-related materials.

Monitor federal, state, and local legal and regulatory developments that may affect the company's operations, workforce, commercial activities, or strategic objectives.

Assess the impact of legal and regulatory changes and implement practical compliance plans, policies, training, and operational measures to reduce legal exposure and mitigate business risk.

Support the company's compliance program by advising on applicable laws, internal policies, ethics requirements, and risk-management initiatives.

Manage and oversee outside counsel on intellectual-property matters, litigation, employment matters, regulatory issues, and other specialized legal projects.

Coordinate with outside counsel to establish project scope, manage budgets, evaluate legal strategy, and ensure timely, cost-effective delivery of legal services.

Partner with internal teams-including executive leadership, finance, sales, operations, human resources, technology, and procurement-to identify legal issues early and provide proactive, commercially sound solutions.

Assist with the protection and management of the company's intellectual-property assets, including coordination with outside counsel on trademarks, copyrights, licensing, disputes, and related matters.

Support dispute resolution and litigation-management efforts, including preservation obligations, internal fact gathering, strategy discussions, settlement evaluations, and coordination with insurers or external legal advisors as appropriate.

Contribute to the development of scalable legal processes, governance practices, and risk-management strategies as the organization grows.

Required Qualifications
Juris Doctor degree from an accredited law school.

Active license and good standing with the Illinois state bar.

[5-10]+ years of relevant legal experience, including meaningful in-house corporate counsel experience and/or a combination of law-firm and in-house experience.

Demonstrated experience drafting, negotiating, and managing a broad range of commercial contracts, including significant customer and vendor agreements.

Experience advising on employment-law issues and preparing employment-related agreements, policies, offer letters, and separation documentation.

Strong knowledge of corporate compliance, legal-risk assessment, and practical implementation of policies and procedures.

Experience managing outside counsel and legal budgets across multiple matter types.

Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex legal issues clearly and concisely to non-legal business partners.

Strong judgment, attention to detail, negotiation skills, and ability to prioritize effectively in a fast-paced environment.

Preferred Qualifications
Prior experience serving as General Counsel, Deputy General Counsel, Associate General Counsel, or a senior in-house legal advisor.

Experience supporting a growing, private-equity-backed, middle-market, technology-enabled, manufacturing, services, or highly regulated organization.

Experience with intellectual-property strategy, licensing, privacy, data security, corporate governance, insurance, or litigation management.

Ability to operate independently while maintaining a highly collaborative, client-service-oriented approach with internal stakeholders.

Experience building or improving legal department processes, contract-management workflows, compliance programs, or risk-management frameworks.

Candidate Profile
This role is well suited for an experienced in-house attorney or law-firm-trained attorney seeking a broad corporate generalist position with substantial ownership and visibility. The successful candidate will bring a commercial mindset, sound legal judgment, and the ability to provide practical advice that enables the business to move efficiently while appropriately managing risk.

Jobot is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We provide an inclusive work environment that celebrates diversity and all qualified candidates receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, age (40 and over), disability, military status, genetic information or any other basis protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. Jobot also prohibits harassment of applicants or employees based on any of these protected categories. It is Jobot's policy to comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws respecting consideration of unemployment status in making hiring decisions.

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